the conversion of Francois Louw’s try in the first half of South Africa’s victory over Italy at Witbank on June 19th, 2010, the Springbok flyhalf has made 38 consecutive successful goal kicks, spanning eight Tests.
He’ll look to continue that run against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in November. The success rates of goal-kickers weren’t logged until the late 1980s. The previous mark was Chris Paterson’s run of 36 successive successful goal kicks for Scotland that came to an end against Argentina in Rosario on June 7th, 2008 when he missed a penalty attempt shortly before half-time.
But who will be his back up no.10? With Butch James expected to miss out due to injury which means that a host of potential Bok pivots could be in the running for a Grand Slam tour. Who would you pick to be Morne’s side kick?
Two names come to mind immediately Pat Lambie and Elton Jantjies and they must without doubt have made the selectors lift an eyebrow during this season so far.
For me Pat Lambie has more pedigree and he is better reader of the game and never seems to get himself into trouble. However his place kicking is totally reliant on a draw which sometimes turns into a hook and it probably does not make him the most accurate kicker at the moment. In addition he does not have the same distance on his kicks as most of the other contenders, but for explosive talent there is nobody around who can match him.
Jantjies on the other hand is a kicking machine and has already shown that he is one of the most accurate kickers in the country, based on this ability he is a shoe-in. However he is probably not in the same class as Lambie in the other skills required at flyhalf yet he is not far off.
Let’s not forget three other players who have played for the ‘Boks at fly half, Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar and Peter Grant all of who are plying their trade overseas. A couple of seasons ago Frans Steyn would have been the obvious choice but a dodgy return at fullback this year as well as some bad blood with PDivvy has not made his choice automatic.
Ruan Pienaar has had ample opportunity to make a claim on this spot but he has failed to impress and it is going to be a cold day in hell when we see him in the Springbok jersey again. Grant is erratic and always looks good when playing behind a good pack and when getting service from a good scrummy, and neither can be guaranteed come November.
For me I would go for Pat Lambie with Frans Steyn playing his utility role if one of the No. 10’s fails.
